Portuguese police set to re-open Maddie McCann investigation

Portuguese police set to re-open Maddie McCann investigation

PROBE: The Portugal investigation could be re-opened after five years [GETTY]

They shelved the case as an unsolved mystery five years ago after a botched probe.

Now in a dramatic development they are seeking permission to relaunch their inquiry.

They are thought to have acted after British police uncovered a number of significant new leads. A team of officers based in Porto had been reviewing the evidence.

FOUND: Maria was found with a traveller family in Greece [EPA]

ANOTHER CHANCE: The case being reopened is fresh hope for recovering Maddie [GETTY]

They are now working alongside a Scotland Yard team who recently unveiled two e-fits of a new prime suspect.

Officers want to trace the man and question him over Madeleine’s disappearance from her parents’ Algarve holiday apartment on May 3, 2007. The e-fit was of a man seen carrying a sleeping blonde girl towards the beach.

“Kate and Gerry and the Metropolitan Police have said all along they would welcome the case being re-opened”

Clarence Mitchell

Detectives received nearly 3,000 calls and emails after the images were shown in a Crimewatch special in the UK which was broadcast across Europe.

But it was not screened in Portugal – a move Madeleine’s doctor parents Kate and Gerry, both 45, say left them “baffled”.

Last night their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “Kate and Gerry and the Metropolitan Police have said all along they would welcome the case being re-opened.”

Meanwhile, a seven-year-old blue-eyed girl seized from a Roma family in Dublin two days ago is to be handed back to them.

DNA tests proved the youngster is their daughter despite looking different to her parents.